Working with the media

What you should do if a member of the media calls you

We always like to know when our faculty members are speaking with the media. It helps us identify and cultivate reporters who are interested in UMass Medical School. Additionally, because we share a campus with UMass Memorial Medical Center, it’s important we ensure the privacy and confidentiality of our patients. Therefore, any member of the media visiting the campus must be accompanied by a member of the Office of Communications.

When a reporter calls, gather the basic details—reporter's name, media outlet, phone number and story deadline. Additionally, its important to ask what the story will be about and how and where it will be used.

We also have a television studio on the UMMS campus, and can help coordinate live or taped on-camera interviews with broadcast media. The studio is easily accessible in the basement adjacent to the medical school and hospital, and the media relations team can arrange the entire interview.

Why you should work with the media

Taking time to share your news or expertise with a reporter is good for UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center as it gets the word out about the remarkable things happening on campus. It’s also good for you: a news story is a great way to promote your work to an audience of thousands, even millions, of people.

Importantly, working with the media also fulfills UMass Medical School's obligation as a public institution to keep residents of the commonwealth informed about campus research, teaching and scholarship.

Researchers at UMass Medical School and the University of Toronto have discovered the first known “off-switches” for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, providing much greater control over the edits, according to a new study published in Cell. Erik Sontheimer, PhD, led the research at UMMS.